Sometimes we do things in the inbound community that feel redundant. Things like blogging, commenting, following people on social media, and reading the tens of thousands of SEO articles that end up in our inbox every year. It is nice to know that all the hustle pays off. The reason we got into inbound marketing in the first place was to help companies grow, right? How often do you use inbound marketing to grow your own company?

Here are a few real life examples of how inbound marketing scored us paying clients. These clients were all completely unsolicited, they are all 100% pure "inbounders". This is not meant to show you how cool I think we are (although, we are kind of cool), this article is intended to show you how inbound marketing actually pays off. If you stay invested, you will be shocked at how well this stuff works.

1. Score Clients Through Blog Commenting:

When was the last time you left a comment on a blog article? Did you consider that it could turn into a paying client? Last May, I left a comment on a Quick Sprout blog article and that comment turned into a paying Client. What, how did that happen? First of all, you need to think about commenting as part of your branding strategy, not as part of your link building strategy. Even though some blogs give you followed links, the ROI on a comment's link juice is extremely low. I refuse to leave a comment if my only motivation is to get a link.

"Here is the blog comment that scored us a client: AMEN to that! As usual Neil, you are spot on. I think more SEOs need to study traditional marketing. I like to tell people that SEO can make people find you even when they aren't looking for you (which is a wonderful thing) but branding will make YOU the destination, and it will make people actually look for you (which is even better.)"

The first thing you need to do is cut the "nice post" comments out of your vocabulary. As a rule of thumb, don't post any comment that a robot could have written. If you write comments that you are proud of, people will pay attention to you and every once in a while, they will even pay you.

2. Score Clients Through Guest Posting:

Yep that's right, guest posting isn't all about building links either (I'm sensing a trend here). BrewSEO recently landed a CRO contract through this guest post about CRO. I realize content marketing is second nature to most SEOs, but how often do you use it to grow your own brand?

My only tip here is to give away your best stuff for free. After you've given away your best tips, you will be forced to come up with something better. The only way to grow and stay on top of trending strategies is to network and share. If you are afraid of giving away your best tips, just attend a Give It Up session at Search Love or MozCon.

Quick Win: One of my favorite tools for guest posting is Blogger Link Up. Jump on there and start writing high-quality articles.

3. Score Clients Through Link Request:

This one is pretty hilarious. About a year ago, I reached out to a blogger to request a link. The blogger ended up owning a small marketing company in the mid-west and they were looking for someone to outsource SEO projects to. They have consistently sent me high-paying projects. 

Here is the link request email that I used: Hey Ringo, I see that you liked the "wicked witch" Macbook Decal on our Facebook page. I also noticed that you have a tech blog :) If you are interested, I have permission from The Decal Guru to give away free decals to any bloggers who will review us on their website and link back to us. Let me know if you would like a free MacBook Decal in exchange for a review on your website.

-Bryant.

Remember to always give 100% even when it doesn't matter. We all know that it is easy to half ass something like blogger outreach emails. DON'T! This link-request required us to pay attention to the people who interact with our client's Facebook page, and search their bios. We look for followers who have websites, and send link-requests to high-quality prospects. You never know when your level of excellence is going to impress someone enough to close a sale.

4. Score Clients via Pro Bono SEO:

I helped out a new business with their SEO pro bono and that turned into one of my best clients. I know what you are going to say, you can't afford to do free work. The truth is, we all have enough time to do a little free consulting. There were a lot of people who helped me out when I first started doing SEO. I think we owe it to ourselves to give back.

One of my passions is helping small business grow, (because they are good for the economy :) One of the business who I consulted with appreciated the advice so much, that he referred me to his friend. That company has been one of my most loyal clients ever since.

5. Score Clients Through CRO (duh):

As Joanna points out in this article, we preach conversion rate optimization to all of our clients, but do you use it for ourselves? Most of the clients who found BrewSEO online mentioned our website as the reason they hired us. Last month, this client told us our video was the reason they decided to hire BrewSEO. No matter what your technical skill-set or budget, you can do something to optimize your website. Install a free version of MouseFlow, or use Google Experiments to start testing. Both of those options are free and they both give you valuable insight into understanding your visitors.

I think one of the most important messages you can give someone is "just do something". If you have systems in place to test what you do, it is almost irrelevant how you start. You just need to start somewhere. How has inbound marketing scored you clients? Share your stories in the comments below.

image credits: The stick figures are modified with permission from powtoon's awesome presentation tool.